It is sometimes difficult to define a
starting
point when talking about the origin of a place or thing and so it is
with
Vanderbilt Beach. The origins of Vanderbilt Beach can be traced
back
in time to an event some twelve to fifteen billion years ago when all
of
the matter which is now thought to exist in the Universe was condensed
into an incredibly small object smaller in size than the ball of a ball
point pen. This object exploded ("Big
Bang") and the universe, as we know it, began to evolve.

The next event in the history of Vanderbilt Beach
occurs
more than four billion years ago when gravitation caused a cloud of
hydrogen
gas to condense into a more and more dense object. At some point in the
process the temperature got so hot the the hydrogen atoms began to
undergo
thermonuclear fusion. In the process of changing into
helium
the hydrogen atoms released pure energy as in E=mc2. As our Sun
was coming into existence our planet Earth
was most likely being formed at the same time.

I know that this is somewhat of a "cosmic" history
of
Vanderbilt Beach" but Vanderbilt Beach has some cosmic characteristics
to it. Have you ever wondered how many grains of sand there are in one
cubic foot of sand. (Probably Not) Well there are approximately one
million
grains of sand in one cubic foot of sand. The next time you walk on
Vanderbilt
Beach try and imagine how many grains of sand there are on the
Beach.
Carl Sagan the great scientist and astronomer when asked how many stars
there were in the Universe did not say billions and billions as is
sometimes
said. He did say "There are more stars in the universe than there
are grains of sand on all of the beaches of Earth.

At some point more than three billion years ago living
organisms were flourishing on Earth. Several billion
years pass and life continues to evolve. At lease five times in
the
history of life on earth mass
extinction events have occurred. These events are
thought
to be caused by a meteor or asteroid impacts and or massive large scale
volcanic activity. Currently life on earth is experiencing a mass
extinction event. This event is being caused by the impact of
humans
on life on Earth.

Humans are relatively recent arrivals on
Earth.
Modern humans are currently thought to have appeared on in Africa
around
135,000 years ago. Only about 10,000 years ago did humans began
to
domesticate plants and animals. About 4,000 years ago human
cultural
evolution had reached the level where methods of agricultural
productivity
became efficient enough to enable large cities to come into
existence.
Historians sometimes refer to this level of human cultural evolution as
"Civilization".

It is not clear as to when humans first entered into
what
we now call Florida. We have strong evidence that humans were
present
in Florida 10,000 years ago. They may have been present much
longer
but clear evidence is lacking. Although humans have been in
Florida
we do not know a great deal abut their early history. All of this
changes when Europeans come to Florida.

On April 2, 1513 Juan
Ponce de Leon landed in Florida (probably near Melbourne
Beach
south of Cape Canaveral) he claimed the land for the King of Spain. In
the next fifty years six expeditions (one French) attempted to
establish
a settlement in Florida. The last one proved to be successful
when
in 1565 under the leadership of admiral Pedro Menendez de Aviles the city
of St. Augustine was founded. Spain was to control
and
rule Florida for period of (1565-1763) sometimes called the first
Spanish
period. In 1763 the British were given control over Florida by Spain as
a result of the French and Indian (1754-63).

By 1783 all of Florida had come back under the rule
of
Spain. Spain's control over Florida was somewhat tenuous as the
United
Sates had become a formidable political and militarily force at this
time
The United States acquired Florida from Spain in 1821. Florida
became
the twenty-seventh state on March 3, 1845 On January 10, 1861
Florida
passed an Ordinance of Secession and became an Independent nation of
Florida.
Less than a month later Florida becomes a state in a newly formed
Confederate
States of America.

In 1885-1887 Walter Haldeman and John Willams came
via
train to Punta Gorda (at that time that was the end of the line for
rail),
they then sailed down the coast an landed at Gordon Pass. The
next
year they formed the Naples Town Improvement Company. The
city of Naples was plated and lots were sold to wealthy
families in the north who were planning to build winter homes. In
1888 the Naples hotel was built along with a 600 foot pier.

In 1911 Barron
G. Collier a New York city multimillionaire started
buying
property in Florida. Naples and Fort Myers were connected by a
primitive
sand road in 1914 and bus service connected Napes to the outside
world.

In 1923 the Florida legislature created Collier
county(which was then part of Lee count) in
return
for Barron Collier financing work on the Tamiami trail to connect Tampa
and Miami. The trail would pass close to a mile from
Vanderbilt Beach. In 1923 the Collier Corporation owned over
million
acres in Florida including much of what is now Collier county and of
course
Vanderbilt Beach. Exactly how and when Vanderbilt Beach got it's
name is probably not known. As best I have been able to determine
Barron Collier probably named Vanderbilt beach afterCornelius
Vanderbilt Jr. There are some written accounts
that Cornelius
Vanderbilt Jr. was a friend and associate of Barron Collier.

On Jan. 7, 1927 the Atlantic Coast railroad's "West
Coast
Champion" arrived in Naples on it's inaugural run from New York, movie
star Glori Swanson was on board. On April 25, 1928 the Tamiami
Trail
was opened and Naples had a population of 350.

On November 23, 1948 J. W. Conners purchase from the
Collier
Corporation a tract of land which included Vanderbilt Beach. By
1952
Vanderbilt Beach Rd. had been constructed and people could drive to
Vanderbilt
Beach. On Dec. 3 1952 the Conners Vanderbilt Beach Estates, INC.
sold the piece of property that was to become the Vanderbilt
Beach
Motel to E. A. Bond of Naples. On Feb. 2, 1953 J. W.
Conners
obtained approval for unit #1 of the Conner's Vanderbilt Beach Estates.

On Sept. 10, 1960 Hurricane
Donna (in those days hurricanes all had female
names)
Donna struck Vanderbilt Beach. Donna, a Category Five Hurricane
did
extensive damage to the city of Naples but no human lives were
lost.
The population of Collier County at this was only 15,753.